NJBIA Hails Veto of Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

The New Jersey Business & Industry Association commended Gov. Chris Christie’s decision to veto legislation that would have required New Jersey to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), noting that New Jersey’s energy sector is already among the cleanest in the entire nation.

“This legislation was unnecessary and, if it had been enacted, could have led to higher energy costs for businesses and consumers,” said Sara Bluhm, NJBIA vice president for Environment & Energy.

“New Jersey did not need to rejoin RGGI because we are already a leader in our own right in curbing emissions and producing clean power,” Bluhm added.

New Jersey is already helping lower PJM’s carbon dioxide emissions by building new baseload Natural Gas Combined Cycle (NGCC) plants, which produce two to three times less CO2 emissions than old coal-fired power plants in the PJM power grid, Bluhm said.